At a recent press conference, Mike Tyson and Jake Paul engaged in a heated exchange, with Tyson criticizing Paul’s physical condition and questioning his boxing record, while Paul promised to “put Tyson to sleep for the last time” in their upcoming fight on July 20.
Mike Tyson is nearly three decades older than Jake Paul. But, hey, age brings wisdom, right? Especially in the fight game. And that includes the art of trash talking.
Just a few days ago, Tyson and Paul had a pretty mild face-off. They’re set to meet in the ring on July 20. But then, they had another press conference on Thursday. This one? Not so tame.
Instead of the friendly banter from before, Tyson fired the first shot. He commented on how big Paul has gotten. He’s prepping to fight at heavyweight, after all.
Tyson didn’t stop there. He questioned Paul’s training efforts, judging by his size. “I don’t know if he’s in his prime. He’s fat,” Tyson declared, to the delight of the crowd. “He should be lean and mean. He’s fat and funky. I saw him with his shirt off the other day, he’s fat. Did you start training already?”
Paul wasn’t silent, though. He egged the crowd on to chant “F*ck Jake Paul” at him several times during the press conference. Then, he fired back with a reminder of Tyson’s first professional loss. It was arguably one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
“Buster Douglas was fat, am I right?” Paul shouted. “I’m going to end you quicker than he did.”
Tyson’s response? No anger. Just a chuckle and a laugh. Paul had compared himself to a former boxing champion. “I know but you’re no Buster Douglas,” Tyson said.
The verbal sparring continued. The audience loved it, cheering loudly. Tyson kept them hyped with every answer.
At one point, Tyson questioned Paul’s power. Paul had demolished his past two opponents in the first round. But Tyson wasn’t impressed. He listed several of Paul’s past opponents who he didn’t finish. None of them had his size, power, or pedigree.
“He couldn’t even knock out [Nate] Diaz,” Tyson said. “[Nate] Diaz is 40 pounds. He’s going to knock me out? Anderson Silva, he couldn’t even knock out the little guys? How’s he going to knock me out?”
“Who did he knock out? Little children. He never knocked out a real man, come on. He didn’t knock out Tommy Fury. I’m going to f*ck Jake up. How am I going to lose if he couldn’t beat Tommy Fury?”
Paul didn’t make excuses about his past fights. He didn’t deny not being able to put his opponents away. But he promised that wouldn’t be the case when he fights Tyson.
“Look, he’s right. I can’t stand here and say I did those things but what I promise to the people on July 20, Mike will be put to sleep and he will feel my power,” Paul said. “I will go down as the man who put Tyson to sleep for the last time.”
Tyson was more vocal this time around. Paul had some responses ready, though they didn’t resonate with the audience as much as Tyson’s comments.
“I respect Mike, he’s a legend,” Paul shouted. “But it’s time, it’s my time now. There’s a reason why I have the same birthday as Cus D’Amato, because I’m going to teach you how to f*cking box, Mike.”
Paul tried to get under Tyson’s skin by mentioning Tyson’s late trainer. It didn’t work. But it did make Tyson laugh again.
“I can’t even get mad at this guy,” Tyson said. “Because everybody knows this guy is talking out of his ass.”